96blak54 2001 Cobra

[96blak54]

Sh!t ill drive it to you!! There more than one way to skin a cat!

 

[96blak54]

Snapped a pic up in the air traffic control tower

 

[badass98svt]

Sticks out for sure. Everything else in the pics is just muted tones

 

[96blak54]

Definitely sticks out everywhere i go. Kentucky full of daily color cars.

 

[ttocs]

the car I got at the beginning of the year is white, pearl at least but yea boring as hell. I had to do a small decal on the rockers/hood/roof just to break up all the white.

 

[96blak54]

Painted the front calipers. Weird i didnt get a pic with the wheel mounted.
Also hand washed and took a night pic.

 

[96blak54]

Painted up the rear calipers over the weekend.

 

[96blak54]

Dirty ugly ass inner wheels. I could probably scrub them real good and they may clean up, but im thinking after scrub cleaning, prep the inner wheel for paint. Something like silver, gray, black.....i dont know....what would you guys do?

 

[Bronco2Fan]

My Cobra wheels look like that too. They don't clean up.

 

[badass98svt]

Dirty ugly ass inner wheels. I could probably scrub them real good and they may clean up, but im thinking after scrub cleaning, prep the inner wheel for paint. Something like silver, gray, black.....i dont know....what would you guys do?

View attachment 49187

I cleaned these up. No paint. You won't need to paint if you put some elbow grease into them.

 

[96blak54]

Dang, those cleaned up good! Maybe Ill get lucky with my wheels and they will clean up too. They only got 27k miles of crap.

 

[joemomma]

You could get them ceramic coated once cleaned. That should make future cleaning MUCH easier.

 

[96blak54]

So now im thinking once I do all this work, the brake dust wont be friendly to the new finish. Currently stock original pads. I wouldnt think they be dusty this bad.

 

[badass98svt]

Throw some ceramic pads on when you pull the wheels.
As mentioned, just ceramic coat them after you clean them up well. You can find ceramic kits on Amazon for pretty cheap. It's well worth it. I do it with every set of wheels I clean up.
My Cosmis are 5 or so years old, and the stickers are still on the barrels. They look like new. Ceramic is well worth it.

 

[96blak54]

Here is what i started with. I attempted a few different processes and finally ended up using a hand held brass wire brush with dish soapy water. Took some elbow grease too.

 

[96blak54]

The brass brush cleaned up the caked on grime good. You see the unfinished machined aluminum surface just on the inside beyond the front polished edge. The brush was scrubbing off the aluminum oxidation. I think ill grab a brass wire wheel set for the hand held drill. Buzz the grime off. Maybe clearcoat afterwards

 

[badass98svt]

YES, it's coming along. A red scuffy pad attachment on a drill is great to use on the back of the spokes and the barrels too.

I used concentrated Wheely Clean for the actual wheel cleaner.
Dont worry about the clear coat. Just give them a coat of ceramic. Much better long term results and it'll be super easy to clean them.

 

[96blak54]

The inner rim wasnt machined or clear coated, so i chose to use a wire wheel brush with a drill to make clean up quick. I have a brass wire wheel brush on order to polish up the rough texture that the steel brush wheel created and them ill ceramic coat or clear coat. Price is a factor. I know them ceramic coatings get very pricey. The price alone has steered me away from use, which leads me to ask, what brand do you recommend?

 

[96blak54]

Riding around during lunch time and snapped a photo

 

[96blak54]

On the way home today while hammering out some rpm's and speed.....i lost the clutch. It must have flew apart or something. Clutch pedal still returns to the top position, so i dont think its a cable or quadrant. I can rev the engine and float into a gear but when releasing the clutch, all kinds of noises be coming from it.

Clutch recommendations?